Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, has issued a sharp criticism of Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, and the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, saying they are "doing everything they can to move away from democracy, to stay in power".
Gorbachev, 79, accused the two leaders of eroding civil liberties by crushing opposition parties and cancelling direct elections for regional governors.
"I am very concerned, we're only halfway down the road from a totalitarian regime to democracy and freedom," he told the BBC. "And the battle continues. There are still many people in our society who fear democracy and would prefer a totalitarian regime."
Gorbachev has been critical of his Kremlin successors in the past – reserving special bile for Boris Yeltsin – but these comments were his most cutting yet about Medvedev and Putin.
In a separate interview with the New York Times, Gorbachev said Putin believed "democracy stands in his way".
Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, who resigned in 1991, claimed there had been signs of friction between Putin and Medvedev, but ultimately the pair acted as a team. "I am afraid that they have been saddled with this idea that this unmanageable country needs authoritarianism," Gorbachev said. "They think they cannot do without it."
The comments come amid a slow ratcheting-up of tension over who will stand for the presidency in 2012. Western diplomats say Putin is still the dominant figure, but that he has not yet decided whether to return to the fray or to stay out of the race and allow his protégé, Medvedev, to run for a second term.
Putin was forced to step down in 2008 after serving eight years as president, but the Russian constitution would allow him to come back for a third, non-consecutive stint. Opposition candidates, who command few resources and who are excluded from appearing on state television, stand little chance.
Gorbachev's comments will have little effect inside the country, where he is widely derided as a spent force, but they could dampen Washington's optimistic view of Medvedev as the US attempts to "reset" relations with Moscow.
The Nobel peace prize-winner reserved special criticism for the pro-Kremlin United Russia party that props up Medvedev, saying it had become "a bad copy of the Soviet Communist party" whose aim was to exclude ordinary citizens from politics. That contrasted with Gorbachev's endorsement of the party at the 2007 parliamentary elections, when he said it was supported by 80% of the population.
Asked about the situation in Afghanistan, the former Soviet leader – who now heads a thinktank – predicted that Nato could never beat the Taliban.
"Victory is impossible in Afghanistan," he told the BBC. "[Barack] Obama is right to pull the troops out. No matter how difficult it will be."
Yesterday it emerged that Russia could be drawn back into the Afghanistan theatre for the first time since the Red Army was forcibly expelled by US-backed mujahideen fighters in 1989.
Nato and Russian officials are discussing plans for Russian forces to contribute helicopters, train Afghan pilots and security forces and step up co-operation on counter-narcotics and border security.
